Primitive: A Virtual Buffy Webisode
by Unitarian Jihadist
Summary: In the aftermath of a devastating attack on the Academy in Rio de Janeiro, Buffy reverts back to her original incarnation. Now Dawn, Faith, and the “Red Death” have to capture the Primitive, a merciless creature of immense power.
1. Previously, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Primitive

A Virtual Buffy "Webisode"

In the aftermath of a devastating attack on the Slayer Academy in Rio de Janeiro, Buffy reverts back to her original incarnation. Now Dawn, Faith, and the "Red Death" have to capture the Primitive, a merciless creature with immense power who does not like modern humans.

Disclaimers: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all affiliated characters are the intellectual and actual property of Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox. Furthermore, this webisode includes quotations of material written by the man himself, Joss Whedon. I of course receive no compensation for writing this story except my enjoyment and hopefully the enjoyment of others.

Continuity: This story is a delayed sequel to the stories _Caliban's Daughters _and _One Less Martyr_. It takes place in early February of 2004, right after the Angel episode "You're Welcome". If you find yourselves interested in this story, you might want to go back and check out the previous two webisodes.

Further notes: This is the third of seven webisodes I am planning to do for a mostly hidden (in my head) virtual season 8 of BtVS, based on hints dropped in the excellent final season of Angel.

This story will be written in a present tense format. The narrative is meant to describe the action as a television viewer might see it. As before with _Caliban's Daughters_, the "Previously, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer" chapter will run (much) longer than an actual television recap would in order to include some critical background information.

With that in mind, here we go…

Previously, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer

**The aftermath of the Battle of the Hellmouth:**

Buffy, Willow, Dawn, Giles, Xander, and Faith are standing in front of the giant sink hole that used to be Sunnydale California and the Hellmouth. In the background is the yellow school bus.

"Yeah, you're not the one and only chosen anymore, gotta live like a person," says Faith. "How's that feel?"

"Yeah, Buffy," Dawn says. "What _are_ we gonna do now?"

In response to the questions, Buffy smiles.

**The courtyard of the Hyperion Hotel:**

We see Buffy sitting in the courtyard. She is softly weeping when we hear a door open. Our view switches to the open door. Standing in the doorway, cigarette in hand, is Faith.

"Oh _hey_," Faith says, sounding uncomfortable and apologetic. "Sorry to intrude B."

Buffy wipes the tears from her cheeks and looks at Faith, giving her a slight smile.

"You, of all people, are not intruding," Buffy says.

"Yeah, I am," Faith says. "The cig can wait. I'll go back in, take as long as you…"

Faith is cut off as Buffy rapidly stands up, steps forward, and hugs her.

"Hey!" Faith cries, now looking and sounding embarrassed, not to mention confused. "You just crushed my _cig_! In the Big House, that would cost ya _big_ time."

"_Sorry_," Buffy says with a slight laugh as she wipes another tear from her eye. "I just…Wes told me what you did for Angel."

"Yeah, well, I didn't do it for…," Faith begins to say.

"Me?" Buffy finishes. "Already _knew_ that. Doesn't make me appreciate what you did any less. I mean, how ironic can you get?"

"Ironic?" Faith asks.

"Yeah," Buffy replies. "Four years ago, you try to assassinate Angel by injecting poison into him, and you jump off a building to keep the cure, your blood, away from him. Four years later, you willingly poison _yourself_ and _let_ Angelus drink from you so that you can _save_ Angel."

Faith looks up at Buffy, her expression thoughtful.

"Huh," Faith says. "Y'know, I never thought of it that way. That really _is _kinda opposite-opposite, huh?"

Buffy sobs lightly again.

"Hey, you _OK_ B?" Faith asks with obvious concern.

"_No_," Buffy answers. "No not really. I think it's all hitting me, the deaths of the girls and Anya, the destruction of Sunnydale. Tara and my _Mom_ were buried there!"

"It's a lot to lose," Faith says. "'Course, I never had all that."

"You have me," Buffy says.

"Huh?" Faith says.

"You have _me_," Buffy says. "It would be absolutely _hypocritical_ of me to hold your past against you when I haven't done it with others. You _get_ the responsibility that comes with being a slayer. More importantly, you _get_ the responsibility that comes with being a friend. If it wasn't for you, the First and this Jasmine character would have been fighting Angelus over the scraps of this world.

"So here I am, looking at you and knowing that the most important thing in the world right now is to be _your_ friend. I want you to be able to count on _me_ like we were able to count on _you_."

As Buffy speaks, Faith takes out another cigarette. Her hands start to shake a little as she tries to light it. Finally, Faith swears softly, closes her lighter, and slips the cigarette back into her jacket pocket.

"B, you're _embarrassin'_ me," Faith says shakily.

"I imagine I am," Buffy replies. "But you're tough. I know you can handle it."

"Damn straight," Faith says. Then she hugs Buffy. It is quick, over before Buffy can bring up her own arms to reciprocate.

"Don't tell anyone I just did that," Faith says. "_Especially_ the brat. I'd never live it down."

"When you say 'brat'," Buffy replies. "Do you mean my kid sister or do you mean Kennedy?"

"Both," Faith says.

Buffy nods solemnly.

"You're right," Buffy says. "We must never speak of this again."

**The lobby of the Hyperion:**

"At the crater, you all asked what I was going to do next," Buffy says to the remaining core Scooby group (Giles, Dawn, Willow, Xander, and Faith). Angel and Wesley are also present. Buffy is standing, and they are all seated around her. "I now have an _answer_ to that question."

"I am going to set out to find and contact _all_ of the other slayers," Buffy says. "Not next week. Not even tomorrow. I am going to start _now_. **_Immediately!_**"

"_Now_?" Giles asks. "Buffy, while I appreciate your dedication, I do not think things are quite so urgent."

"Yeah, B," Faith says. "What happened to living like a person?"

"_Syria_ happened," Buffy says. "Did you all see the story about the girl who killed her father and brothers?"

"The girl who defended herself from an attempted _honor _killing?" Giles asks. "You think she was a slayer?"

"She _is_a slayer, Giles," Buffy says. "Will and the Devonshire Coven _confirmed_ it,"

Buffy starts to pace back and forth as she speaks.

"Activating all of the potentials at once was originally _my_ idea, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. We _had_ to stop the First and its army and we _did_. But even the right decisions have consequences. The consequence for this one is that there are now somewhere between 550 and 600 super powered girls in the world. Not all of them are going to choose to use their powers to fight demons. Many of them probably live under circumstances and stresses we can't imagine, and a few of them may even be criminal or insane."

"What's everyone lookin' at _me_ for?" Faith asks.

Buffy ignores Faith's comment.

"Whatever they do with their new power, good and bad, I bear some responsibility for," Buffy says. "And as the world's most experienced slayer, I also have a responsibility _to_ each and every one of them."

Giles looks at Willow.

"See?" Giles whispers. "I _told_ you we had a lot to do!"

"_Yeah_, yeah," Willow replies. "Spoilsport! So Buffy, how do we get started?"

Buffy looks at Willow with an overwhelmed, almost hopeless, expression on her face.

"We can use you and the Devonshire coven to locate them," Buffy says. "After that, I'm not sure. Any ideas?"

Dawn tentatively raises her hand.

"_I_ have some thoughts," she says.

**Courtyard at the Hyperion:**

"You wanted to see us?" asks Buffy as she and Angel walk out into the courtyard.

"Yeah," Faith says as she steps on her cigarette. "I've made a decision. I been thinkin' about what you said, B, about even good decisions having consequences."

Buffy and Angel look at one another.

"I'm goin' back," Faith says.

"Back where?" Buffy asks.

"To prison," Angel answers. "That's what you mean don't you?"

"Yeah," says Faith. "I made a deal to pay for the things I did. When I escaped I did it just to help Angel and I fully intended to go back when I was done. Then Willow drafted me to help out with the latest Sunnydale apocalypse, and I made connections with the girls, with B, and even with a guy who I want to do more than a one night stand with. So I was thinkin' maybe I could go somewhere else, help you guys out, and not go back to prison. I now have all sorts of reasons for not wanting to go back.

"But the reasons, they're all _personal_, and in the end I still made a deal."

"Faith, we might be able to _fix_ this," Buffy says. "Angel runs a law firm now, an evil law firm to be sure, but I am sure we can do something with that. And you would be amazed at what Willow could do…"

"That'd be _cheatin'_, B," Faith says. "Angel's gonna hafta be resistin' temptation enough dealin' with somethin' like Wolfram and Hart. As for Willow, let's just say she's been walkin' a thin line for awhile, and usin' witchcraft, computer hackin', or both to clean my record up is way off a' this line."

"Faith," Buffy says. "We _need_ you."

"No, you really _don't_," Faith says. "Not like ya think, anyway. You got a whole platoon's worth of veteran slayers. Vi, Kennedy, Karyn, and that Korean chick, Jinny, are all really good. And have you _watched_ your kid sister practicin'? She's gonna be better'n _any_ of us inside the month. 'cept maybe you. I may have more experience than any of 'em right _now_ but that won't be true inside the year. When it comes to my experience, ya gotta remember that I spent most a' my time as a slayer in prison or in a coma."

Buffy and Angel both start to open their mouths.

"Don't try an' change my mind, guys," Faith says. "This decision is final."

"You go back," Angel says. "I don't think they'll ever let you out."

"Yeah," Faith says. "I know. That's where the consequences come in."

**A Los Angeles Police Precinct:**

Faith enters, flanked by Wesley Wyndam-Pryce and a couple of Wolfram and Hart's lawyers. The offices are cleared out except for some men in SWAT outfits all training their rifles on her.

"Aw, is all _this_ for little ol' me?" Faith says.

"When we are dealing with someone who can jump through bullet proof glass," the prosecutor seated in a desk in front of Faith says. "We respond accordingly."

"I ain't goin' anywhere," Faith says. "I'm ready to go back."

"Yeah," says the prosecutor as he signs the last of the papers in front of him. He then holds it out behind him. "Only you're not _going_ back.

"She's all yours, Major."

Riley Finn steps out from behind the ring of SWAT officers, flanked by his wife Samantha and his friend Graham. He takes the papers from the prosecutor.

Faith's eyes go wide, but she mounts no resistance as Riley takes her by the upper arm and steers her out of the precinct.

"So, does the Initiative have a new demon prison to put me in?" Faith asks in a whisper.

"More like an alternative sentence," Riley says. "And I have a message for you from Buffy Summers. She said, 'I told you you can count on me'."

"Cool," says Faith. "So I guess I'm in Club Uncle Sam now huh?"

"As long as you behave yourself," Riley says.

**Devonshire**

Willow is walking out of a circular grove of tall oak trees. Inside the grove various women in white robes are milling about in groups of two or three. Willow is also wearing a white robe, and her hair color is now white mixed in with her customary red.

Buffy, Kennedy, and Vi are standing together and watching Willow approach them. As she does so, the white hair slowly turns back to its usual red.

"The coven senses great potential in one of the new slayers," Willow says. "The potential to acquire magickal power."

"So one of us will become a _witch _as well as a slayer?" Kennedy asks. "_Cool_."

"Or very disturbing," Buffy says. "A slayer who could perform witchcraft would be almost unstoppable.

"Do you know who it _is_ Will?"

"Well, yeah, since I sensed the power first," Willow said. "The coven was just providing a second opinion. _Now _they want _me_ to help with this girl's training."

Then Willow looks directly at Buffy as she says, "But to do that, I need to get _your _permission first."

"_My_ permission?" Buffy says. "Why would you need _my_ permission? It's not like I'm this slayer's legal guardian…"

Buffy's voice trails off for a moment as she frowns thoughtfully.

"…unless I _am _that slayer's legal guardian," Buffy says uneasily.

"That's it, Buffy," Willow says. "I didn't want to say anything to you until the coven gave me a second opinion, but now they have. **_Dawn's_** the slayer who is _also_ a potential witch, and I need _your _permission to start training with her."

**Devonshire**

Dawn and Willow are in a room in Gile's house in Devonshire They are sitting cross legged on the floor, their eyes closed. Between them, eight pencils are floating in the air and twirling end over end. Buffy walks in.

"Willow," Buffy says. "Are you trying to teach Dawn how to levitate _pencils_ now?"

"Nope!" Willow says.

Dawn holds her hand out and all eight pencils stop their twirling and go one at a time into the palm of her open right hand.

"Lesson's already over," Dawn says.

**Devonshire**

Giles is talking to six people sitting around a round table, four men and two women, the youngest looking to be in their seventies.

"We are starting Slayer Academies in Cleveland, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Johannesburg, New Delhi, and Tokyo," Giles says.

"Where are you getting the money for all this Rupert?" asks Roger Wyndham-Price.

"Well, much of the money came from funds recently liberated from the old Council's Swiss Bank accounts," Giles says. "Since then, we have also come into some additional funds for ongoing operational expenses."

"And those funds come from…?" Roger Wyndham-Price asks.

"Philanthropists," says Giles.

**Location unimportant**

We see a magazine lying on the table. The Magazine is _Wired_, and on the cover is a picture of Willow Rosenberg.

The caption says:

_The Tech World's Newest Billionaire: Web Security Guru Willow Rosenberg is the "Wicked Witch of the Network"_

**Los Angeles, the offices of Sunset Development**

Xander, very well dressed in a black suit, is talking to another, equally well dressed older man.

"The fact is, Mr. Harris," the man says. "In the span of a year, you went from working for Sunnydale's largest contractor as a foreman to _becoming_ Sunnydale's largest contractor. As a result, you now hold most of the contracts for rebuilding Sunnydale."

"People want to rebuild _Sunnydale_?" Xander asks. "_Why_?"

"That's not important, Mr. Harris," the man says. "The important thing is that we at Sunset Development want to buy those contracts from you. I think you will find our offer to be very generous."

**Berlin**

"Mrs. Durtz," Buffy says. "I want to assure you that our new academy in Rome will provide Inga with a top notch…"

Frau Durtz angrily cuts off Buffy's speech with a torrent of German. At that time, Dawn, who has been speaking with a young blond woman who is apparently Inga, turns and speaks to Mrs.Durtz in fluent sounding German. Mrs. Durtz responds, and Dawn calmly and fluently replies. Mrs. Durtz appears to calm down and turns and asks Inga a question. Inga nods.

"Very well, Fraulein Summers," Mrs. Durtz replies in heavily accented English. "I will sign your papers. But you take good care of my daughter."

The scene changes to Dawn and Buffy walking out of the Durtz's house. Buffy turns to Dawn.

"I thought you were taking _Spanish_ in High School," Buffy says.

"I _was_," Dawn says.

"So how come you were speaking fluent _German _in there?" Buffy asks.

"I don't know," Dawn says with a shrug. "After Sumerian, I guess German was _easy_."

Dawn stops and, with a thoughtful look on her face, continues.

"As was French, Dutch, Swedish, and Italian."

**Devonshire**

Giles is holding a sheet of paper and showing it to Willow, Kennedy, and Buffy.

"I hold in my hands the highest admission test score in the history of the Watcher's Academy," Giles says as he turns the sheet of paper to Buffy.

Buffy looks at it and her eyes go wide. Willow looks at it and her eyes go even wider than Buffy's.

"Oh!" Willow says. "Oh _no_! This _can't_ be right Giles!"

"I'm afraid it is," Giles says. "Dawn Summers has the highest entrance examination score in Watcher Academy history."

**A street in Rome, followed by the gym of the Rome Slayer Academy**

On a Rome street, three slayers are fighting a very tall vampire.One of the slayers is Inga, the slayer Buffy and Dawn recruited from Berlin. The vampire they are fighting is clad in a very expensive looking suit and black sunglasses. He wears his long red hair in a pony tail and he is wielding a sword. The slayers are all hard pressed. As we see a close up on the vampire's face, we hear a slicing noise, and the vampire's face is splashed with blood. He smiles.

The scene switches to the Rome Slayer Academy. Buffy is lecturing a group of young slayers, including Dawn, when she suddenly falls to her knees.

"Inga," Buffy rasps as Dawn runs to her side. "Dawn, I _felt_ her die."

**Tokyo, in front of the Tokyo Slayer Academy**

A small army of vampires are dressed like Mongol warriors and riding obviously vampiric horses with yellow eyes and prominent canine teeth.They are riding towards the Tokyo Slayer Academy. In front of the academy stand several young women and girls, armed with swords, crossbows, and axes. One of the Mongol warriors lets fly an arrow, and a slayer falls dead with an arrow in her heart.

**Rome, Buffy and Dawn's apartment**

Buffy sits up in her bed and screams. Dawn runs in.

"Buffy!" she yells. "It's just a nightmare!"

"No," says Buffy. "Nine more slayers in Japan, including Chao-Ahn! Dawn, I _felt_ them _die_!"

Dawn looks intently at Buffy's face. Our vantage point is the back of Buffy's head.

"Buffy!" Dawn says. "What's happened to your _eyes_?"

"My eyes?' says Buffy.

We then see what Dawn sees. The corneas of Buffy's eyes have turned bright yellow, and the whites have turned bright red.

**Edna Giles home in the Nottingham countryside **

"What is the prophecy, the first prophecy every watcher and every slayer learns?**" **Edna Giles asks Dawn and her grandson.

" 'Into each generation a slayer is born, one girl in all the world born with the strength and skill'…" Giles begins.

"That's good, Rupert," Edna says, cutting him off. "Did you hear the key phrasing there?"

"I'm afraid not," Dawn says.

"I'm afraid I'm rather at a loss as well," Giles says.

" 'Into each_ generation _a slayer is _born_'…" Edna says. "Not 'when one slayer dies, another takes her place'. The original slayer was part Higher Being. Her physical body could be killed, and much of her power could be taken. But, her _spirit_ was beyond the power of the Shadow Men to contain. So, the spirit went out and searched for a girl child who otherwise would be stillborn. The spirit would _choose_ that child for her next incarnation. That child would grow up to be the next '_chosen_ one'."

"Wait a minute," Giles says. "You're saying that the slayer prophecy refers to a single entity who is repeatedly _reincarnated_?"

"Yes I am," Edna says. "The spirit of the original slayer simply worked herself into a rotation with the other slayers, the ones called by the Shadow Men and their descendents in the original Council. Unfortunately, even the true chosen ones tended to die very young, so the spirit of the original slayer was literally reincarnated every generation."

"So you are saying that _Buffy_ is the latest incarnation of the _original_ slayer?" Dawn says.

"Yes," Edna says. "That's why Buffy's own powers increase with every slayer death. When your friend Willow used the scythe to activate all of the potentials, what she actually did was call all of the stolen power of the original slayer back onto this plane of existence, back from wherever the Shadow Men had hidden it. When one of the other slayers dies that stolen power, instead of going back to wherever the Shadow Men had kept it, now returns home.

"And that home, dear heart, is your sister."

**The Great Hall of the Rome Academy**

Giles and Dawn are walking side by side down the Great Hall.

"So what are you so worried about, Giles?" Dawn asks.

"I'm worried about you and Buffy, quite frankly," Giles says. "About a month ago, I noticed that you started submitting the weekly reports for this academy instead of Buffy."

"Buffy's been busy," Dawn says. "_You've_ been busy. You know, things like shutting down Quentin Travers and the old Watcher's Council?"

"No, that's not it," Giles shakes his head. "Running this Academy, coordinating between _all_ of the Academies, was Buffy's top priority. She was quite obsessive about it. Now, she seems to have delegated everything to _you_, in spite of your _own_ studies…"

"My _school_ studies?" Dawn says. "They're _nothing_ Giles. In fact, if I have to I can work ahead and finish out the year and _still_ have time for the Academy. And Buffy's _still_ involved in things here. It's just different now."

"_How_?" Giles asks.

"Well, she still leads the patrols," Dawn says.

"Buffy has _always_ led the patrols," Giles says. "I spoke with Karyn. She says Buffy is usually leaving the group behind to hunt on her own.

"Surely you see it, Dawn. Buffy was once _consumed_ with her self imposed responsibility for finding, training, and protecting the new slayers.

"Now, she seems to be consumed with nothing but the _hunt_."

**The bedroom of Willow and Kennedy's condo in Rio de Janeiro**

Willow is asleep in bed when a figure steps out of the shadows.As light hits its face, we recognize the features as belonging to Warren Mears.

"Warren" touches Willow's face. Her eyes fly open and she turns around.

"_Hey_ sweetie," "Warren" says gently. "_Miss_ me?"

Willow's eyes turn black as she raises her right hand. "Warren" flies out of Willow's room, through the large picture window, and into the courtyard outside of the Condo. Willow, her hair now as black as her eyes, floats out of the window. She looks very angry.

"_There's_ my girl," "Warren" says.

Suddenly, Willow's expression changes and she laughs.

"Nice try, 'Warren'," she says. "But I know who you really are, and I've been waiting for you."

"Really?" says "Warren" as he brushes the broken glass off of his sleeve.

"Yeah, _really_," says Willow. "I finally figured out that a _community college_ student with a misogynistic streak doesn't turn into an evil technological genius decades ahead of the rest of the world overnight. Warren was your _puppet_. _You_ were the puppet master. You provided him with the knowledge to create robot duplicates, ice rays, jet packs, etc. And you turned Warren's misogynistic streak into an obsession."

"Very good, Miss Rosenberg," "Warren" says as he morphs, adding mass until we see Adam. Especially observant viewers notice that the biological and mechanical sides of Adam's face are switched.

"_Another_ nice try," Willow says. "But Adam and the Initiative were simply _more_ of your pawns. And now Quentin Travers and the old Watcher's Council are your _latest_ pawns.

"Isn't that right…**_Malcolm_**?"

"Adam" morphs again. Metal seems to fly in from everywhere. We now see the giant, demonic robot visage of the demon Moloch from the first season episode _I Robot, You Jane_.

"You are being a bit unfair to Mr. Travers, I am afraid," Moloch says in his beautiful yet mechanical voice. "We have more of a true partnership. He found and contacted me. In the end, though, I couldn't resist seeing you, my greatest unfinished work of art.

"It is _so_ good to see you again, Willow. _ Love_ the hair, the eyes, and _especially_ the rage. You look so beautiful, more than I ever dreamed."

"You _almost_ succeeded in turning me," Willow says. "You caused Warren to kill Tara and pushed me into a darkness I didn't know I had within me.

"Fortunately, you underestimated my friends, _one_ friend in particular."

"Actually," Moloch says. "I was targeting your friend the Slayer. I figured her death would be enough to push you over the edge, since you had gone to such effort to resurrect her. Your lover's death was simply a very fortuitous accident."

Willow floats down to the ground. Her hair turns from black to red to white, and her eyes turn from black to a bright glowing blue.

"Hey!" Moloch says. "_That's_ just disgusting! Turn back!"

"I've _mastered_ my darkness, Malcolm," Willow says. "Now, I'm gonna master _you_."

Cannons pop out from all over Moloch's mechanical body. Spikes come out from his knuckles. And he grows larger.

"Willow?" we hear a voice say softly. It's Kennedy, standing in shorts and a t-shirt, her hair mussed by sleep. Obviously, Willow and Kennedy have been sleeping separately.

"Go back inside, Kennedy," Willow says. "I got this."

"_Really_?" says Moloch. "If you embraced your inner darkness, you might have a chance against me. But to fight my technological might with your puny, do-gooder, love-the-Earth magic? Willow my dear one, you are _deluded_. I'm going to _squash_ your little slayer lover like a bug, and you won't be able to stop me"

The earth around Willow explodes, and we can't see her. Kennedy flinches back and covers her face with her arms. Even the giant Moloch raises his arms to shield his mechanical face.

From within the swirling dust, we hear Willow's voice, louder and now with a mechanical inflection of its own. As the dust starts to clear, we see another giant robot, slimmer and female shaped with glowing blue eyes.

"You really haven't been paying attention to how I made my fortune, have you Malcolm?" Willow says. "It's more like your technology against my _not so puny do-gooder earth magic_ **_and_ _technology_**!"

We hear the crash of rending metal and a bright flash of blue light, then Moloch's giant mechanical head rolls next to Kennedy.

"Oh my God, Will!" Kennedy exclaims in a shocked whisper. "You've turned yourself into a _transformer_."

**Lyssa McGrath's bedroom in the slayer academy**

Giles is sitting up in bed and staring into space. Lyssa McGrath, at 44 the oldest of the called slayers and mother to two more slayers, awakens next to him and kisses him on the cheek.

"Are you OK?" Lyssa asks.

"No, I'm worried," Giles says.

"You're _always_ worried, hon," Lyssa says. "That's what I love about you. What is it this time?"

"Buffy, Willow, and Dawn," Giles says. "They're all so much more than what they were even a couple of months ago. They are so much _beyond_ human, _beyond_ slayer and witch, even."

"You're thinking about the prophecy," Lyssa says. "From the Scrolls of Aberjian."

"Yes," Giles says. "The _Warrior_, the _Goddess_, and the _Adept_ are emerging. And when they have completely emerged…

"…will _anything_ be left of Buffy, Willow, and Dawn?"


	2. Teaser

Teaser

**Central Mongolia**

We see torches flickering as we look at the wall of a tent rippling in a heavy wind. We hear the wind blowing outside. Then we hear the scream of a horse, and the harsh laughter of men.

Our viewpoint pans over until we see that the men who are laughing aren't "men" at all, but vampires in full bumpy faced mode. They are all dressed like Mongol warriors, and they are dragging a frantic, screaming horse towards an opening in the tent to the outside. Then, the vampires shove the horse outside the tent, and we hear the horse scream again, briefly before the scream is cut off. Then we hear loud growls, almost like the low purring roars of lions, followed by the sounds of biting and chomping and chewing.

The Mongol vampires chuckle and move deeper inside the tent. We hear the high pitched whisper of an arrow in flight, then one of the Mongol vampires is struck in the heart by a flaming arrow. He disintegrates immediately. One of the other vampire warriors starts to pull out his bow and arrow, but he is struck by a flaming arrow and both he and his weapons explode into flaming dust. From outside the tent where the horse was shoved just moments ago, we hear more massive versions of the imploding sounds of vampires being dusted. The walls of the tent are now in flames, and the remaining vampire warriors scream in frustration.

The scene shifts to the outside. Standing on a rocky precipice are Buffy, Dawn, Karyn McGrath, Lyssa McGrath, and the Korean slayer Jinny Pak (the leaping slayer from the Battle of the Hellmouth). They are all dressed in armor. Buffy's eyes are still red and yellow, and her expression is merciless.

"Let's finish this," Buffy says.

**Home Office of the Circle of the Black Thorn**

Cyvus Vail hacks and coughs as he drags his IV tubes and medicine bottles closer to the table.

"With all due respect, Lord," he says. "Things are not going at all well in this war. We have lost Quentin Travers, and the rest of the original Watcher's Council has been destroyed, neutralized, or turned against us. Rothgar's Berserkers have been eradicated, and now Khan's Horde is on the defensive as well. The Female Trinity and their slayers seem to have us retreating on every front.

"By the time we finish turning Angel to our side, will we _be_ in any position to wage our end of the Apocalypse?"

The other members of the Circle, all in their black robes, mutter their agreement with Vail's concerns, but there is no reply from the massive glowing table they are all standing around.

Then suddenly, the deep Satanic voice of the Master of the Circle is heard.

_**ENOUGH! I understand that you all are worried about the apparent direness of our situation, and I know you all have questions…**_

…**_but right now I am on a very important errand. So, you may ask your questions one at a time after the beep, and if I am feeling generous after my return, I may deign to listen to your questions and even answer a few of the more intelligent ones. I will of course, as always, DEVOUR those of you who ask impertinent questions, so think CAREFULLY before you ask._**

_**Have a nice day. **_

The end of the message is followed by a beep which echoes in the now silent cavern. Vail and the other members of the Circle look around at one another.

None of them speak.

**Central Mongolia**

It is now chaos as a small army of perhaps 20 slayers (most of whom are almost certainly from the Tokyo Academy) attack the Mongol vampires and their gigantic vampiric horses. The slayers are all firing flaming arrows and other weapons, large shotguns and what look like small cannons. The battle is one sided. The vampires, both human and equine, are disorganized, and the slayers have the high ground.

Then, suddenly, a great vampiric horse leaps onto the rocky high ground, grabs a slayer by the neck, shakes her like a dog, then leaps back down, carrying the now dead slayer with it. Buffy gasps slightly and grabs her neck and drops to a knee. But then Buffy straightens and, with a determined and angry expression on her face, leaps from the rock to the ground below. The giant vampire horse drops the body of the slayer from its mouth and growls deeply at Buffy as she lands. Then the horse attacks, its massive head striking for her neck. Buffy grabs the horse by the lower jaw with her left hand and holds her ground. The horse strains against Buffy but makes no headway. One handed, Buffy shoves the horse sideways to the ground, and beheads it with the sword in her right hand before it can regain its feet.

On the rocky high ground, Karyn turns to Dawn.

"_Geez_, Sunrise," she says. "I knew your sister was strong, but I never knew she could do _that_."

"Me either," says Dawn grimly.

"Look _alive_ ladies," says Karyn's mother Lyssa. "More guests are arriving to the party."

Indeed, in the distance we see perhaps 30 vampire horses and their equally vampiric riders. With hideous shouts and roars, they ride rapidly forward towards Buffy, who is standing alone before them.

On the high ground, Dawn reaches out her left hand. From the great burning tent, we see a stream of flame erupt upwards. We follow the flames' trajectory until they reach Dawn's open left hand and form into a flaming ball over it.

"Well," says Dawn. "Time to go to work."

So saying, Dawn points her left hand towards the approaching horde. The ball of flame travels rapidly downward and obliterates a horse and its rider. Dawn and the slayers all then give a war cry of their own and jump down to the ground below to join the fight. Our view shifts to the ground as Dawn, Lyssa, Karyn, Jinny, and the other slayers all land. They all raise their weapons, but then stop in confusion. From in front of them, we hear the sounds of fierce battle.

"Uhm, is it my imagination, or are they all _ignoring_ us?" Karyn asks.

"Yeah, they are," replies Dawn grimly. "They're all going for Buffy. Let's go!"

Dawn and the other slayers start to run forward. Our view shifts to Buffy and we see that the horses and their riders are all indeed converging on Buffy. With rapid swings of her sword, Buffy dusts the closest horse and then its rider before disappearing under swirling dusts and hooves and flashing swords and spears.

"**_Buffy_**!" we hear Dawn's voice scream.

**Inside the Slayer Academy in Rio de Janeiro**

We hear a door buzzer, and we see two slayers walk into the front office of the Academy. There is a third young woman sitting at a front desk.

One of the slayers is Ana, a veteran of the Battle of the Hellmouth. The other is Helena. They are speaking to each other in Spanish, but we see English subtitles.

"Did you let someone through the gate?" Ana asks the receptionist.

"No," replies the receptionist. "I do not understand how someone can be at the door."

Ana nods and joins Helena at the front door. Helena is holding a small crossbow. They nod to one another.

"So," Helena says to Ana. "Do you think Kennedy has told Willow yet?"

"That's what she said she was going to do," Ana answers. "She won't do anything with me until she ends things with Willow."

"I hope Willow is accepting of the news," Helena says. "I have heard that she does not take rejection well."

There is a number pad by the front door. Ana pushes some numbers, and the door unlocks. Ana opens the door.

Our view switches to outside, and faces downward. Ana walks out into the front courtyard, and we see that she is under an enormous shadow. Her eyes and mouth are wide open in terror as we see the shadow move, and we realize it has wings. Helena follows Ana out with an identical expression on her face. Helena starts to aim her crossbow at whatever is casting the shadow.

Suddenly the screen is filled with blue, white, and yellow flame. Our view switches to ground level and we see Ana and Helena instantly reduced to blackened skeletons before being vaporized entirely.

**A street in Rio de Janeiro, inside a car**

Willow is driving, Kennedy is in the driver's seat. Both look serious.

"It's OK, Kennedy," Willow says. "I think you've made the right decision."

"To break up with you?" Kennedy replies. "You don't have to sound so _happy_ about it."

"I'm not," Willow says. "I'm sad, but I'd be lying if I said I was devastated. Like you said, we've been growing apart for awhile, and I _do_ think that you and Ana will make a great couple."

"What about you?" Kennedy asks.

"Dunno," Willow replies. "I think I'll be best on my own for…a…while.

"Oh…my…God…and Goddess."

We now see the light of flames reflected on the faces of both Willow and Kennedy. We also see the flashing lights of fire engines. Our viewpoint switches to outside the land rover Willow was driving. Fire Engines, their sirens blaring, are going by and we see the reflected light of flames and the haze of smoke.

Our viewpoint returns to the inside of the land rover.

"Kennedy…I…" Willow starts to say, tears flowing down her cheeks. Tears also flow down Kennedy's face, and her eyes are wide in an expression of horrified shock. She doesn't say anything.

Then our view changes so that we see what they are looking at. The entire Slayer Academy is consumed in flames. As we watch, a wall falls in, then another and another until the entire building collapses into flaming rubble. .

"I'm _so_ sorry," Willow whispers.

**Central Mongolia**

"**_Hurry_**!" Dawn yells as she runs. "We have to help Buffy!"

"Look out Dawn!" Lyssa says as she runs beside Dawn. "It looks like some of them are now going to turn on us."

Indeed, we see vampire Mongol warriors and a couple of their vampire horse mounts running towards them. But when the first one reaches Dawn, he simply parries her sword and attempts to run past. Dawn beheads him and continues running.

"Wait a minute," Lyssa says as she beheads one of the vampiric mounts. "They aren't attacking, they're _running_!"

Dawn stops her own running and stares, Lyssa and Karyn standing at her side. A vampric horse literally flies over their heads, and continues to fly until it strikes the cliff behind them with such force that it is immediately pulverized into dust.

"Hey Sunrise, what…?" Karyn starts to ask.

Our viewpoint shifts so that we are now looking at a literal cloud of vampire dust. A Mongol vampire warrior stumbles backwards. It is Khan himself. With a cry, he swings his sword back into the dust cloud. In mid swing, the sword is yanked out of his hand. Then an arm reaches out and grabs Khan by the throat. Another hand smashes into his chest, through the breast plate, and comes out with his heart. Both Khan and the heart then implode into dust.

"B…Buffy?" Dawn whispers.

Then a figure emerges from the dust cloud. Although clad in Buffy's clothes, she is not Buffy. She is hunched over. Her hair is dark and when she shows her face, it is human and yet very different. The face projects, the teeth are huge.

She looks at the slayers, who are all standing in stunned silence.

Then the Primitive throws back her head and howls. The howl sounds like a cross between a multitude of female voices and the roar of some prehistoric beast.

"I _really_ don't think that's Buffy," Karyn says.


	3. Act 1

Act 1

**Location Unknown**

"Where am I?" Buffy asks.

She is standing close to a rocky outcropping about 14 feet high. The landscape is rocky and the vegetation is a lush mixture of grass and low lying bushes. In the background, we see snow covered mountains.

"You're in Mongolia," we hear a familiar voice answer.

"Nope," Buffy says. "I was just _in_ Mongolia. In fact, I don't even remember how I _left _Mongolia. Anyway, Mongolia doesn't look like this."

"Oh," the voice replies. "You mean what you're _seeing_. I don't know _where_ this was. You're the only one who might know that, and you've never said."

"_Me_?" Buffy says, her tone clearly one of disbelief. "Believe me when I say that I've _never_…"

Buffy's voice trails off as an elephant runs by. The elephant looks very unusual. It is built low to the ground, although of course it is still much taller than a human being. The tallest part of the elephant is not the head, but the shoulder, making the elephant look something like a living bulldozer. The elephant's tusks are very long and project straight out.

Buffy gapes in disbelief as other unusual elephants run by. The animals are clearly panicked, and Buffy shrinks against the rocky outcropping to avoid getting trampled. As the last of the elephants, clearly a calf, runs by, Buffy steps away from the rocky outcropping and looks in the direction the elephants came from.

Our viewpoint shifts to the direction Buffy is looking in. We see a wall of fire and smoke. Behind that wall, we can dimly make out what appear to be naked men capering about with torches. The men have low lying foreheads and projecting faces. They are making excited grunting sounds that appear to be a combination of human speech and chimpanzee hoots.

"Wait a minute," Buffy says. "This is one of _her_ memories, isn't it?"

"What do you mean by _her_?" the owner of the other voice says, and now we see who it is as she walks next to Buffy. It's Tara Maclay. "There is no _her_, not really. The memories are _yours_."

With that, the scene literally shifts around Buffy and Tara. Now, they are at the base of a very high cliff. In front of them are other human beings with brow ridges and projecting faces. They are all naked. These people are mostly females and children, and a few are clearly elderly men and women. They are all looking up. Most of the women are holding various rock instruments, primarily hand axes and scrapers.

"What are they _waiting_ for?" Buffy asks, looking up. Our viewpoint shifts so that we are also looking up the cliff. The answer to Buffy's question tumbles off the edge of the cliff and falls screaming to its death.

"Oh my _God_!" Buffy cries. "The _poor_ elephants!"

"I know," Tara says. "But your people _had_ to eat. The elephants came through here, wherever here is, once a year. This hunt fed many families, including yours, for almost half a year. It was like Christmas, or maybe Thanksgiving."

As Tara finishes speaking, another one of the elephants runs off of the cliff. Some of the children try to run forward, but they are restrained by their elders.

"Wait a minute," Buffy says, pointing to one of the children being restrained. It is a young girl of the species. "That's _her_ isn't it?"

"That's **_you_**," Tara says. "The **_first_** you."

"Yeah, yeah, I already know," Buffy says. "I'm the _reincarnation_ of the original slayer."

"It's much more than that," Tara says. "Remember what I said to you awhile back? I said: 'You think you know what you are, what's to come. You haven't even begun.' Do you remember that?"

"Yeah," Buffy replies, drawing out the "yeah" into a two syllable word.

"Well, **_now_** you've begun."

From the top of the cliff face, we hear the angry roar of one of the elephants, followed by a human scream. Then, a man is flung over the cliff and falls screaming to the rocky ground at the bottom.

"Wait, I _do_ remember this," Buffy says. "That…that's my…"

The girl, the young Primitive, runs forward with a cry, followed by a whimper. We see one muscular arm, blood running along it and off of the finger tips, extending from the rocks. The girl grabs the arm and nuzzles it with her face, crying. The blood from the arm smears the young Primitive's face.

"…your _father_," Tara finishes. "Or more accurately, your _first _father. Yes."

An older female, evidently the young Primitive's _mother_, runs forward with a warning shout, but the girl looks up the cliff face, an angry expression on her tear and blood stained face. Then, she _leaps_. She leaps so high that she clears the cliff. Our viewpoint briefly switches to the top of the cliff side. The young Primitive is running among the panicked elephants, easily avoiding getting stepped on.

Then our viewpoint switches once again to the base of the cliff, looking up. We see another elephant, this one larger than the others, fall screaming to the rocky ground. It lands with a liquid thud. The Primitive's mother runs forward, voicing her concern. Standing up on the elephant's huge corpse is the girl, the young Primitive, her body now _covered _with blood. She throws her head back and howls.

"She…she's just a little _girl_," Buffy says. "But she brought down an _elephant_."

"Back then," Tara says. "Back then, you were built to hunt _much_ larger prey than mere _vampires_."

"I _remember_," Buffy says. Then Buffy fades away, and vanishes.

"And so you _begin_," Tara says as she also fades away and vanishes.

**Mongolia**

The Primitive finishes her howl. She then lowers her head and glares at the gaping slayers standing in front of her.

Karyn turns to Dawn.

"Dawn, _what_ just happened to your sister?" Karyn asks.

"I think Buffy's just reverted to her _original_ incarnation," Dawn says.

Suddenly, Dawn and the other slayers all look straight up. Their heads move as their eyes obviously follow something hurtling through the air.

Karyn whistles.

"Look at that jump!" she exclaims. "She just pulled an Incredible Hulk!"

In the distance, we see a tiny human shape fall to the earth, then bounce back up again, several hundred yards in the air.

"Dawn," Lyssa says. "What do you think was the catalyst for the change? The Horde's mass attack?"

Dawn, her expression a mixture of shock and heartbreak, doesn't respond.

"**_Dawn_**?"

When Lyssa repeats her name, Dawn jumps as if startled.

"**_What_**?" Dawn says. Then she shakes her head. "No Lyssa, it _wasn't_ the Horde. Something's happened _somewhere else_, something **_bad_**!"

**Rio de Janeiro, by the smoking remains of the Slayer Academy, and the headquarters of the New Watcher's Council in Devonshire**

Willow is standing by her land rover, in front of the still blazing rubble of the Rio Slayer Academy. She is speaking into a cell phone.

"We've had 6 slayers report in who were either out shopping or visiting their families," Willow says. "Other than them and Kennedy, though, we have to consider the other 72 slayers _lost_."

We then switch to Giles, who is standing in a large atrium. He is on a speaker phone. Surrounding him are several young watchers in training, including Andrew. Also standing among them is Caitlyn McGrath, Lyssa's 12 year old daughter (although she looks even younger). Caitlyn is among the youngest of the new slayers.

"Is there any chance that some of them _survived_ the attack, and are buried under the rubble somewhere?" Giles asks.

Willow shakes her head sadly.

"You aren't seeing what _I'm_ seeing, Giles," Willow says. "Nobody who was in the Academy could have _possibly_ survived. It's a **_total_** loss."

"I…I see," Giles says. "Keep me posted Willow."

"Yeah, sure," says Willow. Willow then closes her cell phone and drops to a knee. Kennedy is sitting on the ground, her head against the side of the land rover and her legs extended out in front of her. Her expression is vacant, almost catatonic. Her cheeks are wet with tears.

"_Hey_ Kennedy," Willow says softly. "Hey baby. Come _back_ to me."

**The headquarters of the New Watcher's Council in Devonshire, and Mongolia**

The watchers in training are all standing around. They are clearly in shock.

Giles claps his hands. The clap echoes loudly off of the atrium walls.

"Now is _not_ the time to lose ourselves in grief," Giles says. "We have obviously been attacked by an enemy of _frightening_ power. We can _not_ afford the luxury of stopping to contemplate this tragedy. The other slayers are counting on us!

"Get to work!"

The watchers all start to move around. Giles walks over to Caitlyn.

"Giles, is _Willow _OK?" Caitlyn asks.

"She's in shock and she is _very_ sad," Giles replies. "Other than that, she is as well as can be expected."

"Mr. Giles," Andrew says. "Dawn's on the satellite radio."

"Right," Giles says. "Andrew, stay with Caitlyn."

"Yes sir," Andrew says. "You can count on me sir."

Giles nods.

"I know I can," Giles says. "Just…just _no_ Star Wars or Lord of the Rings analogies, all _right_? Now is _not_ the time for them."

Andrew looks disappointed.

"Yes sir," he says.

As Giles walks away, Andrew turns towards Caitlyn.

"I know things look grim now, but this makes me think of the SG1 Team when they found themselves on…" he begins.

Our viewpoint shifts to a radio room. A studious looking Englishwoman is speaking into the radio.

"Mr. Giles has arrived, Miss Summers," the woman says.

"Thank you Heather," Giles says. "Go help the others. We need to find answers to what happened in Rio."

Our vantage point switches to Mongolia. Dawn is manning a small radio with a satellite antenna sticking out of it.

"_What's_ happened in Rio, Giles?" Dawn asks.

"The Academy has been completely destroyed," we hear Giles' voice say over the radio. "Burned to the ground."

"Willow?" Dawn asks, clearly concerned.

"She wasn't there," Giles says. "She was out with Kennedy. Most of the Rio slayers, however, _were_ killed."

Dawn closes her eyes.

"I _knew_ it," she whispers. "I _knew_ it was something awful!"

Then Dawn reopens her eyes and speaks up.

"That makes sense, given what happened to Buffy," she says grimly. "She's _gone_ Giles. She's gone and _the Primitive_ has taken her place. The surge of power from the slayers in Rio must have transformed Buffy."

"The **_Primitive_**?" Giles exclaims. "Good _Lord_! The Primitive was an extremely powerful killing machine! To think she's now achieved _physicality_… You'll need to _stop_ her! _Capture_ her! It's probably the only way to get Buffy back!"

"I _know_ that Giles," Dawn says. "But it's not that simple. The Primitive pretty much took out the rest of Khan's Horde single handedly. She shredded them like they were made of tissue paper."

"Indeed?" says Giles. "How _powerful _do you estimate the Primitive to be?"

"I don't think **_Glory_** would have lasted _20 seconds_ against her," Dawn says grimly. "The only person I can think of who might even have a _chance _of stopping her is _Willow_."

"Willow's not a_vailable_ at the moment," Giles says. "Kennedy was psychologically _devastated_ by the destruction of the Rio Academy. She's essentially catatonic, much as Buffy was when Glory grabbed you. Willow is trying to bring her back."

"Understood," Dawn says. "But we're going to need her help as soon as possible. I have Karyn and Jinny trying to follow her as best they can, but if she turns on them…"

"Is there any other help I can get you in the meantime?" Giles asks.

"Yeah," Dawn says. "Have Robin get a hold of his girlfriend _and_ her boss. And I think we'll need the _Red Death_ as well."

"You know she _hates_ it when you call her that," Giles says.

Despite the current catastrophe, Dawn smiles slightly.

"I know, but_ I_ didn't give her that name, that's what the vampires …" Dawn starts to say, but then her eyes go wide in an alarmed expression. "_Wait_ a minute!

"_Giles_! We have to evacuate and shut down the other academies _right away_! If they can destroy _one_ academy right under _Willow's_ nose, they can get to the others as well."

Giles nods grimly.

"Agreed," Giles says. "We've already started the evacuations. In fact, I probably need to be getting back to that. I'll contact Robin to get you the help you need. In the meantime…

"…you be _careful_. _All _of you!"

"You _too_, love," Lyssa says from her position standing behind Dawn. "_You_ too."

**Chicago**

We see a stage in a small theater. Most of the seats, about 20 folding chairs, are filled. The stage is actually larger than the seating area. As our vantage point moves around so that we are facing the audience, we see that they are vampires, almost all of them in ridged, "vamp face" mode. They are all clad in evening dress that would have been suitable in the 1920's.

The next moment, a sobbing girl is shoved onto the stage by a large male vampire. The girl is wearing a worn denim jacket and torn jeans. The vampire wears a black evening coat and trousers, and a stove top hat. He has a twirling Snidely Whiplash mustache.

"Welcome," the melodrama villain says in a deep announcer's voice. "Welcome to another edition of _No Hero Theater_, the dinner theater where the villain _always_ gets the girl!"

The applause is wildly enthusiastic.

"The villain" picks up the girl by the hair. Our viewpoint is now behind the villain and the girl, looking out at the audience.

We notice the girl's hair is red.

"Where'd you get _this_ one, Whip?" one of the audience members, a vampire with bright red lipstick and wearing an equally bright red dress, asks.

"The _usual_," Whip says with a shrug. "Begging for money outside of the bus terminal. I rescued her from a lifetime of degradation!"

"You're _going_ to _eat_ her!" One of the other vamps in the audience says in an exasperated tone. "And since this is a stage show, you're going to _play_ with your food. Pretty degrading if you're the food, don't you think?"

"Well of _course_," Whip says. "But when I eat her _tonight_, there will be no _life_time of degradation, now will there?"

"Please," the girl sobs. "_Please_ don't hurt me!"

Whip turns the girl around to look at him. He leers melodramatically at her. He licks his fangs.

"Does this_ look_ like the face of someone who would hurt you?" he asks.

"Oh _no_ sir," the girl whispers fearfully. "No it doesn't."

"Then you are just the sweetest, _dumbest_ little thing I ever snacked on!" Whip says. He then pinches her cheek.

The girl screams. The crowd boos and hisses.

Whip slaps the girl. She collapses onto the stage.

"Now _this_ is just a waste of time," Whip says. "What part of _No Hero Theater_ do you _not _understand? There is no hero to rescue you here."

At that moment, the door of the theater is kicked open so hard it falls off of its hinges. Standing at the opened doorway is the slayer Rona.

"Am I too _late_?" Rona asks anxiously. "Have I missed the _good part_?"

"Nope," says the girl on stage as she springs to her feet. We now see her face and recognize the slayer Vi. "The good part is just getting started."

"Wait…wait a minute," Whip says as he backs up. He points at Rona. "Who _are_ you?"

"I'm Rona," Rona says.

"Rona…the _slayer_ Rona?" the vampire in the red dress asks, her voice rising in horror. She turns and points to Vi. "But that would make _you_…"

"Vivian," Vi says brightly. "_Vi_ to my friends and…"

One of the other formal clad vampires in the audience, his blond hair slicked back, shouts in terror.

"It's **_her_**!!! It's _really_ **_her_**! The **_Red Death_**!!!!"

Whip growls and jumps off of the stage and starts to run to the door. Rona pulls out a wooden stake, and as Whip reaches the door, she ducks, slams him against the wall with her left hand, and stakes him. As he implodes into dust, we hear shouting, screams, crashes, and multiple dust implosions. After about 30 seconds, the sounds of violence die down until there is only a single whimper, followed by one final dust implosion. Then Vi walks up to Rona, brushing dust off of the sleeves of her dirty denim jacket.

"Ok," Vi says. "_Now_ what?"

"Figured we could get something to eat," Rona answers. "There's a really good Italian place just two blocks over. Candlelight, the whole ambiance bit."

"Ohhh _kaayy_," Vi says. "But I guess you forgot what Faith's first rule of slaying is."

"_Faith's _first rule of slaying?" Rona asks. "I know what _Buffy's_ first rule of slaying is..."

"Don't die!" Vi says in unison with Rona.

"…but I don't remember _Faith_ having a rule for slaying," Rona finishes.

"It's about what comes _after_," Vi says.

"You mean about being hungry and…oh…_Oh_!" Rona says. "Well you know, there's also a Doublemeat Palace _three_ blocks over if you're in that big of a hurry!"

"I am," Vi asks. "Aren't you?"

"I am _now_," says Rona.

Vi nuzzles Rona behind the ear.

"OK! _OK_!" whispers Rona. "Forget the Double Meat! We'll just order _room_ service."

"That always makes Robin _cranky_ when we do that," Vi says with an exaggerated pout.

"I feel strong enough to brave official crankiness," Rona says as she takes Vi's hand.

Vi smiles at Rona.

"My hero," she says.

One second later, Vi's cell phone rings to a Fiona Apple melody.

"Oh _no_," Vi says. "It's _Robin_."

"Oh my _God_!" Rona says with false drama. "He _knows_! He always _knows_ when we're going to order _room service_!"

Rona giggles as Vi says "Shhhhhh!" and takes her cell phone out of her pocket.

"Hi Robin," Vi says into the phone. "What's _up_?"

**Devonshire, the headquarters for the New Watcher's Council**

"Thank you, Xander," Giles says into the speaker phone. Then he breaks the connection, stands up and rubs the bridge of his nose.

"The Johannesburg Academy was the last to report in," says Giles. "We have now evacuated and shut down all of the academies."

"How are we going to keep track of all of them now?" Andrew asks.

"We're not," Giles replies. "We are going to hope that the training we've given them holds, and that they don't misuse their powers. Right now, we have more immediate concerns: Finding out who or what is behind the attack in Rio, and capturing the Primitive, and if possible, restoring Buffy to her life."

"Mr. Giles," says Andrew. "You don't sound very optimistic."

"I'm _not_, Andrew," Giles says. "Buffy is simply the latest reincarnation of the original slayer, one of an estimated 300 incarnations. But the lives of _all_ of those incarnations together add up to a mere _fraction_ of the _original_ slayer's lifetime."

"Because the original slayer was a demigoddess," Andrew says.

"That's as good a term for it as any," Giles says. "Buffy is in the end mere veneer. The Primitive is the core."

"But I don't _get_ it Mr. Giles," Andrew says. "_Why_ is the Primitive so _powerful_? I mean, I understand that each of the other slayers has a small piece of the original slayer's power, and that when they die that power goes back to Buffy, or I guess the Primitive now, but _why_? I mean, a regular slayer is pretty good at killing vampires and demons, isn't the Primitive overkill?"

Giles shakes his head.

"No Andrew," he says. "The original slayer was not designed to hunt vampires. Indeed, she _predates_ vampires."

Andrew stands looking at Giles with rapt attention. Giles looks at Andrew and rolls his eyes.

"Come on," he says. "You can listen in on my call to Willow."

"So tell me about the original slayer," Andrew says.

"Several billion years ago, this universe was a hell dimension, ruled by the Great Old Ones. Eventually, beings of even greater power, the Elder Gods, came and expelled the Great Old Ones. The Lesser Old Ones, also known as _Full _Demons, stayed behind. The Elder Gods left the native life here and elsewhere to develop on its own, but the Full Demons tried to eradicate the native life forms and facilitate the return of their masters."

"The _Great_ Old Ones," Andrew says.

"Yes," Giles says. "At any rate, there was a great deal of back and forth battles, apocalypses, and catastrophes between the Full Demons and the Higher Beings, equivalent agents of the Elder Gods. Eventually, the Higher Beings imprisoned most of the Full Demons in the Deeper Well, but most of the Higher Beings were severely damaged in the fight, and some of the strongest demons remained. Then, with the rise of various human species, another strategy presented itself to the Higher Beings.

"Several hundred thousand years ago there were several species of human, none of them ours. Some of these species were hunting specialists. They could run, at a rate comparable to a modern human sprint, for many days at a time."

We see several members of the Primitive's species running along a desert, following a herd of long horned bison.

"They were _much_ stronger than we are, and they could probably see much better than we could as well. They were the consummate human predators. One of the Higher Beings impersonated a female of one of these hunting species and mated with the strongest males she could find until one of them gave her a child."

"The _Primitive_!" Andrew says breathlessly. Giles sighs with apparent irritation at Andrew's dramatics.

"Yes, the _Primitive_," Giles continues. "On her human side, the Primitive was already pre-adapted to be a hunter, a killer of wild game. The Full Demons of the time were in no way human. They were giant…creatures, comparable in a way to the animals her people already hunted.

"Like giant _snakes_!" Andrew exclaims. "Like the one Mayor Wilkins turned into!"

We now see one of the humped backed elephants run screaming, only to be picked up by a giant serpent very similar to the one Wilkins turned into. The giant creature tips its head back and swallows the elephant whole.

"Correct. The first Full Demon to run into the Primitive must have gotten an incredible shock. She would have appeared to it as an insect, but she would have had a mighty sting."

We see the Primitive's people fleeing the giant serpent in terror. The serpent's great head flashes down and picks up one of the screaming men and swallows him as it did the elephant. One of the people, however, is moving the other way. It is, of course, the Primitive, fully grown but still pathetically tiny compared to the giant serpent. The Primitive is holding a spear, really nothing more than a gnarled pointed branch. The giant serpent looks down at the Primitive, and _chuckles_. The Primitive then screams in rage, and leaps high into the air straight at the giant serpent. We do not see her land, but we see the giant serpent's body thrash about as evidence of a titanic battle. Green gore eventually soaks the ground, and the thrashing stops. The giant serpent's body is now still, and the Primitive, covered in the green gore, emerges.

"The first one or two kills were probably easy," Giles says thoughtfully as he and Andrew continue to walk together. "The Full Demons, given the size differential, could hardly have expected such a tiny creature to have strength and ferocity comparable to their own. For her part, given her nature, the Primitive would have been _consumed_ with the hunt for Full Demons, the only prey worthy of her abilities. An immortal predator with immortal prey, she would have had forever to hunt. At some point, however, she became the _last_ of her kind of humanity. When that happened, the hunt became _all_ that she had left. Eventually, around 6,000 years ago the Primitive found the last and most powerful of the Full Demons in what would become Sunnydale. So powerful was this creature that she needed a special weapon forged just for her."

"The _scythe_," Andrew says.

"Yes, the scythe," Giles says. We now see the shadow of a tentacled monstrosity. In the shadow of this great creature, we see several white haired women and the Primitive, now clothed in the garb we saw her in during the episode _Restless_. One of the white haired women hands the scythe to the Primitive, she screams and launches herself at the creature.

"The final battle, according to what little Dawn, my grandmother, and I could find on it, lasted for days. Eventually, the last of the Full Demons was dead. However, the Primitive was also badly hurt, and therefore _vulnerable _for the first time in her long existence. And that is when the Shadow Men, the Wolf, the Ram and the Hart, assassinated her. In the end, that may not have been a bad thing."

"What do you mean?" Andrew asks.

"The Primitive was the _last_ of her kind," Giles says. "And her job was _done_. There was no longer anything for her to hunt. The agents of the Great Old Ones, representing various hells, were trying different and competing strategies, and indeed were at each other's throats. There were new breeds of demons, human/demon hybrids. They were beings of lesser power, but they were beings that could infiltrate human societies in ways that the Primitive never could.

"Indeed, there is no reason to suspect that the Primitive had _any_ use for our species at _all_."

"And now she's back," Andrew says.

"Yes," Giles says. "She's back, a violent, vastly powerful primordial demigoddess walking the earth without a purpose. An alpha predator with no prey.

"I can't see how this can _possibly_ end well."


	4. Act 2

Act 2

**Mongolia**

We see a buffalo, its neck broken, dumped onto the ground. Then we see the Primitive. She moves over to a large pile of straw and sticks and branches. She strikes two stones together several times, striking sparks. Soon, she is nursing a fire to life. She then walks over a short distance and starts to strike the stones together again in a different fashion. With a close up on the rocks in the Primitive's hands, we see she is fashioning a stone tool.

Our vantage point shifts so that we are watching the Primitive creating her stone tool through night vision binoculars.

Then we see that Jinny is holding the high tech binoculars. She hands them to Karyn. Karyn looks through the binoculars.

"We've found her," Jinny says.

"Yeah," Karyn says. "It looks like she's cooking dinner."

Karyn hands the binoculars back to Jinny.

"Keep watching her," Karyn says. "Let me know if something happens. I'm going to contact Sunrise."

Karyn then closes her eyes.

_Hey Sunrise, we've found your big sis. It looks like she's sitting down for a **big **steak dinner. What do you want us to do **now**?_

Our viewpoint shifts to a distance away. Dawn is with Lyssa McGrath and the other slayers. As we hear Karyn's echoing "telepathic" voice, we see Dawn close her own eyes. Then we hear Dawn's response.

_Just watch her. Do** not **approach her. _

_Do you think she'll **object** to us following her?_

_She probably doesn't **care**. Frankly, she probably considers you beneath her notice. Best we leave it that way. Just keep me posted if she goes on the move again._

_Will do, Sunrise, Karyn out. _

"Dawn, are you OK?" Lyssa asks, her voice concerned.

"Fine," Dawn says. "Just getting an update from Karyn. They've found the Primitive, and they're watching her now."

"How do you _do_ that?" Lyssa asks. "Talk to Karyn with your mind, I mean?"

"It's a spell I cast so that I can link to Karyn," Dawn says. "Willow's done the same thing with Buffy, Xander, and Giles, and she recently added me and Riley Finn to her psychic hotline. I simply added Karyn to it. I can add _you _to it too if you want me to, but I hope you don't. I doubt Karyn would _ever_ forgive me for giving _you_ the ability to check in on her _anywhere_ in the world at _any_ time.

"And you _do_ know that your daughter is the best friend I've ever had, don't you?"

"Yes I do," Lyssa says. "You're the _only_ reason why Karyn is not insistent on returning to Walnut Grove. She _really_ didn't like Cleveland.

"So _you're_ off the hook, but when I see _Willow_…"

As Lyssa speaks, there are two flashes of green light, and Vi and Rona appear.

"Oh **_God_**!" Vi cries out in a strangled voice. She runs a short distance and starts to vomit.

"The _teleportation_, or the _blood_?" Dawn asks Rona.

"I think it was drinking your blood that pushed her over the edge," Rona says. "Gotta say, though, the trip made me a little queasy too. Maybe it was just the thought of Willow teleporting us long distance via cell phone."

Rona then turns and looks at Vi.

"Buck _up_, you big baby," she says.

"_Sorry_ guys," says Vi sheepishly as she wipes her mouth.

"_This_ is the feared 'Red Death'?" Lyssa asks Dawn with a whisper.

"Yeah," Dawn whispers back. "When it comes to slaying, she's _really_ good. Except for my sister, perhaps the best there is. No offense."

"None taken," Lyssa says.

Then Dawn turns toward Rona and speaks up.

"Not that I'm not glad to see you," Dawn says. "But I didn't _expect_ to see you."

Rona shrugs.

"Robin asked me not to return to the Cleveland Academy," Rona says. "Said it might be really dangerous, and that it would be deserted by the time I got back anyhow. Besides, where _Vi_ goes, _I_ go."

"_Good_," says Dawn. "We can certainly use your help.

"Lyssa, Rona, take the rest of the slayers and start doing sweeps. There are some stragglers from the Horde, including some mounts. See if you can take the rest of them out."

"What about _me_?" Vi asks.

"You stay here with me," Dawn says. "We're gonna be having _company_ soon."

Then Dawn raises her voice so she is speaking to everyone.

"One last thing," she says. "With the evacuation of the academies, I figure _we_ now make up the biggest collection of slayers in one place. We don't _know_ what destroyed the Rio Academy, but there is a possibility that whatever it was will come for us, so keep your eyes _open_."

**The Headquarters of the Circle of the Black Thorn**

There is a rumbling from the great, glowing circular table. Moments later, we hear the deep voice of the Master of the Circle.

_**Hello everyone. I'm home.**_

The members of the Circle of the Black Thorn all look at one another nervously.

**_Well, _**says the Master of the Circle. **_Isn't anyone curious about my errand?_**

One demon, who looks like a cross between a man and an ant (complete with antenna and horizontal jaws), raises it's clawed hand.

"Did you have success with your errand, Lord?" it asks.

We cut to the faces of some of the other members of the Circle, including the Italian woman Ilona, a four eyed demon (one pair of eyes on top of the other) in a three piece suit, and Dracula, looking as immaculate as ever. Ilona and the four eyed demon look terrified as we hear a hoarse scream that is cut off when we hear a loud chomp, followed by the crunch of bones being chewed. Dracula rolls his eyes and looks bored.

**_What a stupid and impertinent question! Of COURSE I succeeded in my errand! Since I was the one who undertook the errand, its success was preordained. Now, does anyone want to ask me a question about the errand that is NOT stupid or impertinent?_**

There is the sound of nervous rustlings and clearing of throats (some of them human). Finally, with the slightest hint of irritation, Dracula asks:

"What _was _your errand, Lord, if we may so humbly ask?"

_**I burned the Slayer Academy in Rio to the ground, with at least 70 slayers inside.**_

For a moment, there is stunned silence. Then, there is the sound of applause. Finally, the members of the Black Circle stand up as one and start to cheer loudly.

"Well done, Lord!"

"That will show those bitches who's the boss!"

"The False Watcher's Council must be crying in their beer by now!"

"Here! Here!"

"So Lord, exactly what did **_that_** accomplish?"

The cheering abruptly ends. In the nervous silence that follows, the members of the Circle back away from the table, all except for the individual who dared to ask the question:

_Dracula_.

_**What do you mean by that question, false vampire?**_

"Begging your pardon, Lord, but I am _not_ a false vampire," Dracula replies . "My brides and I are _different_ sorts of vampire, _living curses_, if you will.

"As for my meaning, I fail to see how destroying a gathering of slayers helps us. Yes, it gets rid of some slayers, but at the same time it makes _the _Slayer stronger."

_**Ah, that's what I thought you meant. Excellent question**, **false vampire. **_

The Archduke Sebassis leans over and whispers to Cyvus Vail:

"_Excellent _question? I can't imagine a more _impertinent _question. Any of the rest of us would have been _eaten_ for it."

Vail chuckles in a raspy voice.

"There has always been a double standard when it comes to Dracula," Vail says. "It _has_ to be the world famous name.

"Besides, Dracula would simply turn into a mist and come back up his gullet if our Lord were to eat him. 'Living' curses are like any other kind of curse, _damned_ hard to get rid of."

_**To answer your question, Count, I refer you to my guest. **_

With that, the elevator at the head of the stairs above the Circle's great table opens. Walking out is a cloaked figure. At the head of the stairs, the cloaked figure throws off the top of her cloak and stands revealed as a handsome dark haired woman of about 50.

_**So, Althea Giles, tell us. What was the response of the New Watcher's Council to the destruction of the Rio Academy? **_

"My cousin Rupert, Robin Wood, and Dawn Summers all ordered the immediate evacuation of the other slayer academies."

There is an immediate and loud reaction from around the great table. Althea Giles waits for a few seconds until the muttering dies down before she continues:

"The slayers were sent back to their home communities when possible. The others were sent to safe houses."

"Why would they do _that_?" Cyvus Vail asks. "They disbanded their **_army_** when they were _winning_? The Old Council would _never_ have been so _foolish_ with their resources!"

The Master of the Circle laughs loudly. The most human looking of the Circle members cover their ears. They all stop talking.

**_You STILL don't understand the nature of our enemy, my dear Mr. Vail. The New Council cares more about the welfare of its individual slayers than it does about strategic advantage. So, to protect those PRECIOUS young lives, the New Council disbanded its army in order to protect it. _**

"That makes **_no_** sense!" Vail says again.

_**Of course it doesn't. Not to you, not to me. But I still knew that was what they would do. And it gets better…**_

_**Miss Giles?**_

"As predicted, the power from the dead in Rio went straight to Buffy Summers," Althea Giles says. "Consequently, the Buffy Summers personality was overwhelmed. The _Primitive_ now stands in her place."

Again, a loud muttering is heard around the table. Dracula laughs.

"Of _course_," he says. "The Primitive had _no_ regard for or interest in humans, only for the full demons she hunted. As such, she is _useless_ to the Female Trinity until her Buffy Summers personality is restored."

**_Exactly, Count! And while they try to rescue Miss Summers, we are going to be busy._**

_**Mr. Vanderveer!**_

"Yes, Lord," says a huge white haired man with a huge handlebar mustache. His accent identifies him as South African.

_**Unleash your Runners!**_

"Of course, Lord," Vanderveer says. "But I thought the Johannesburg Academy had _already _been evacuated."

_**It has. The target is not the slayers who lived there, but the man who led the evacuation. **_

**_I want the Runners sent after Alexander Lavelle Harris. He is the last target anyone would expect us to go for, but each member of the Trinity will be devastated by his death. _**

"I _still _don't get it," Cyvus Vail says.

Ilona smiles triumphantly.

"That is because you have never _loved_," she says.

"Ilona is correct," says Dracula. "The death of Xander Harris will be utterly **_devastating _**to the women who make up the Trinity."

Dracula, however, does not look pleased with the idea.

**Mongolia**

"Who are we waiting for?" Vi asks as she and Dawn stand together.

"You'll see," Dawn says. "In fact, they're already here."

The next moment a huge black helicopter, a flying gunship, appears over the rise as if out of nowhere. Soon, it is hovering above them, and a figure drops out. After falling about 30 feet, the figure lands on her feet and runs towards the two slayers. As she gets closer we see it is Faith, dressed in Initiative black and carrying something wrapped up in canvass.

"Glad to see you, Faith," Dawn says. She has to speak loudly over the helicopter.

"When it comes to B, nothing keeps me away," Faith says. "I wouldn't be where I am today without her."

Faith then turns and looks at Vi.

"So you brought the 'Red Death' herself to play with us," Faith says. "Bringin' out the _big_ guns! Cool!"

Vi looks embarrassed.

"Hey Faith," she says. "What do you got there?"

"_Show_ her," Dawn says.

Faith pulls the canvass away with a flourish to reveal the scythe.

"What's _that_ for?" Vi asks.

"That weapon is tied to the Primitive," Dawn says. "It's why Willow was able to use it to call the power of the Slayer. The Primitive's power from the Primitive's weapon."

"So naturally, the Primitive is gonna want it _back_," Faith says.

"So what are _we_ doing with it?" Vi says. "Are we giving it back to her and hope that it brings _Buffy_ back?"

"No," Dawn says. "The three of us are going to play 'keep away'. I figure the three of us have best chance of playing this game with the Primitive…and surviving."

"Rile found what you wanted him to look for," Faith says. "There's an old Soviet underground missile base about 22 miles north and west of here. He managed to call in some favors with our counterparts in Russia, and he has the combination to get in there."

"There…there aren't actual _missiles_ in there are there?" Vi asks uneasily.

"Nope," Faith says. "The missiles have been taken out, but the place is underground and built into solid rock, and surrounded by 10 foot thick concrete walls on top of that. _That _should keep the Primitive contained."

"So let me get this straight," Vi says, turning to Dawn. "We're going to play keep away with your sister, who is no longer your sister, until we get her to chase us into an abandoned underground missile base, and hope that somehow she doesn't kill us in the chase."

"Right," Dawn says.

"How do we lock her in there without getting _trapped_ in there with her?" Vi says.

"We _don't_," says Dawn. "_We'll _have to be in there with her!"

**Castle Dracula, Romania**

Dracula is standing in his great room, facing a huge fireplace. There is no fire in the fireplace, but there is nevertheless a bright glow coming out of it, and the sound of celestial music. A magnificent pair of voices, one female and one male, come out of the fireplace.

"_Wwhy ddid yyou cconact uus wwith tthis iinformation?" _the voices ask. _"Wwe bbelieved yyou tto bbe aa lloyal mmember oof tthe Ccircle oof tthe Bblack Tthorn."_

"I am in _most_ things but…" Dracula says. "But I have come to _like_ Xander Harris. He stayed with me not long ago and he amused me greatly. He taught me how to ride a motor scooter."

"_AAh yyes, wwe rrecall tthat yyou bbriefly mmade hhim yyour sslave aagain," _the voices say. _Uuntil Mmiss Ssummers ttook hhim aaway ffrom yyou aagain."_

"It was _more_ than that," Dracula says. "I know he _hates_ me but…I _enjoyed_ his company, and although he is a mortal destined to soon die as they all are I…do not wish to see him slain by _Runners_. Death from them makes _impaling_ look pleasant."

"_SSo yyou wwish uus tto rrescue yyoung Mmr. Hharris, iis tthat iit?" _the voices say.

"Yes," Dracula says. "Yes I suppose I do."

"_Tthe Llord oof tthe Ccircle wwould ddeal hharshly wwith yyou, Ccount," _the voices say. _Iif hhe kknew oof tthis cconversation."_

"Even the Lord of the Circle can not _destroy_ me," Dracula says. "_Nothing_ can until the world truly and completely ends. You _know_ that. Still, you are correct. He could make my existence unpleasant for a very long time.

"So, will you _help_ him?"

"_Yyes," _the voices reply. _"Wwe hhave aalready ssent aa ppowerful aagent wwho wwill bbe vvery mmotivated tto pprotect hhim."_

"Good," Dracula says.

**Johannesburg**

Xander is sitting at a restaurant table. Sitting with him are his friend Jono and the young, thirteen year old Congolese slayer Genevieve. Xander's gaze is distant, his expression extremely somber.

A woman walks up and gives Genevieve a Coke, Jono a bottle of beer, and Xander a bottled water. Genevieve says something to Jono in French, and Jono replies in the same language.

"What's she saying?" Xander asks.

"She wonders why you never take a beer," Jono says.

Xander looks at Genevieve and speaks directly to her. Jono translates.

"I was raised by two people who drank a lot, way too much," Xander says. "I used to drink the occasional beer, but when Anya died…"

Xander stops speaking for a few seconds, and his expression becomes far away again. Then he continues speaking.

"When Anya died, right before the town I was _born and raised in_ _fell into a giant pit_, I wanted to have a drink more than anything else in the world to take the pain away. So I figured that a drink was the_ last_ thing I needed. Two parents who are alcoholics? I _knew_ what _my_ odds were. So I figured I'd admit that I'm an alcoholic before I had a problem.

"'cause believe me, I was _gonna_ have a problem!"

Genevieve says something, and Jono translates.

"So you have not had a drink since your Anya died?"

"No," Xander says. "And I'm not gonna start either."

Xander then takes a swig from his bottled water, then another.

"Ahhhhh," Xander says with exaggeration. Then he looks at Genevieve, his expression almost paternal.

"Are you sure you want to go back to the Congo?" Xander asks Genevieve. "Civil war, anarchy, not the _best_ place for a thirteen year old girl."

As Jono translates Xander's comment, Genevieve's expression becomes angry. She starts to reply.

"It's not the best place for anybody, but it's my home. I am a slayer, but the worst things I have ever seen or fought have not been demons. I have seen my mother and sisters raped while I hid outside. My younger brother was kidnapped to join an army and fight in a war. Now I have the strength to fight back, to protect my family.

"I was going to leave the Academy and return home anyway. It just turned out I am leaving sooner than I thought."

Xander shakes his head, and Jono puts his hand on Xander's arm.

"My friend, you have been here long enough to know the sorts of lives people live here," Jono says. "If Willow's spell had never happened, you would not have met Genevieve, and her life would not have changed. Now she has the strength to change things, and that is what she wants to do."

"But she's…" Xander says. "She's too _young_ to have that kind of responsibility!"

"She was _hardly_ living a sheltered life _before_ she became a slayer, my friend," Jono says. "The very sort of responsibility that you see as a burden she sees as an escape, a _joy_."

Xander nods quietly.

"Let's get out of here," he says as he stands up. They walk out of the restaurant and onto a Johannesburg sidewalk.

"Alex!" Genevieve says, pointing down the street.

Xander turns and looks where Genevieve is pointing. Our viewpoint switches to what they are looking at. Five men, naked or nearly naked, are running towards them. Two of them are on two legs, but the other three are running on all fours! The three on all fours are not at all awkward, they are bounding with an unnerving grace. And they are moving very fast.

"**_Runners_**!" Xander yells. "And they're coming this way! We gotta get outta here!"

"_Runners_?" Jono asks.

"Saw 'em once in Sunnydale, maybe six years ago," Xander says. "They were after someone else. They tore that poor guy to shreds. Giles told me what they were after I described them. Buffy hunted for them, but never did find them. I think Giles was relieved.

"They're bad news, _really_ bad news."

Genevieve steps in between Xander and Jono and the pack of Runners. As they get closer, we see that their eyes are black pits, and their teeth are not human looking at all. They look like the teeth of deep sea fish.

"Look _out_, Genevieve, their bite is poisonous!" Xander yells.

Jono does not have time to translate to Genevieve before the nearest of the Runners leaps towards Xander. Genevieve tries to intercept it, but it moves far too quick for her. Xander raises his hands defensively but before the Runner lands on him, a crossbow bolt strikes the creature's midsection, and it falls to Xander's side. It tries to get up to bite Xander, but another bolt strikes it in its left black eye, then a third hits its right eye. The creature falls and starts to convulse. Xander looks up and we see what he sees. The other Runners are also convulsing with crossbow bolts sticking out of them. Genevieve looks confused. Jono looks in the direction the crossbow bolts came from and then taps Xander on the shoulder. Xander turns and follows Jono's gaze. His eye widens in obvious surprise.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Xander exclaims.

Cordelia Chase, looking lovelier than ever, tosses her long brown hair back with her left hand. Over her right shoulder, she balances a rather large, powerful looking crossbow.

"What does it _look_ like I'm doing, Harris?" Cordelia says. "I'm saving your ass."


	5. Act 3

Act 3

**Mongolia**

Illuminated by night vision binoculars, we see a bone with barely a scrap of meat hanging on it thrown onto a pile of other bones, including ribs, backbones, and a cleaned off, broken open skull of an ox. Obviously, the Primitive has finished her meal.

"I can't believe she ate the whole thing!" Jinny says as she hands the high tech night vision binoculars to Karyn.

"Yeah," Karyn says. "I think I'm gonna be sick _for_ her! Where did she put it all, anyway?"

Then Karyn starts to scan around with her binoculars. Our viewpoint shifts to Karyn's view through the binoculars, and we see the pile of bones and the dying fire, but no Primitive.

"Wait a minute," Karyn says. We are now looking at her face on as she continues to look through the binoculars. "I've lost track of her! Sunrise is gonna _kill_ me!"

"Actually, _I_ see her just fine," Jinny says. Her voice sounds strange, and her hand comes down to shake Karyn's left shoulder. Karyn puts down the binoculars and turns around.

Standing right behind them no more than 5 feet away, her arms akimbo and her head tilted like a cat watching a pair of birds, is the Primitive.

"Ohhh boy," says Karyn. "So much for being beneath her notice!"

**Johannesburg**

"**_Cordy_**!" Xander shouts as he runs forward and gives her a hug. Cordy smiles affectionately, if a little sadly, as she returns the hug. "Last I saw you, you were in some long term care center in a coma. You weren't expected to get better."

"Yeah," Cordy says. "Well, that shows what _you_ know."

Xander turns to Jono and Genevieve.

"Jono," Xander says. "This is Cordelia, a fellow Sunnydale alum!"

"More than that as I recall," Jono says as he steps forward. Cordelia shifts the crossbow to her left hand to shake Jono's hand.

"Pleased to meet you," Cordelia says.

"This is Genevieve," Xander says. "She doesn't speak English. She speaks…"

Before Xander can finish what he is saying, Cordelia speaks to Genevieve in Congolese French. We see subtitles.

"It is good to meet you, little slayer," Cordelia says.

"Thank you," says Genevieve. "Are you a slayer as well?"

"No," Cordelia says. "I'm something very different. But I am an old friend of Alex's, and I am very much on your side."

Cordelia then turns to Xander.

"These Runners were sent by the Master of the Circle of the Black Thorn," she says. "He has targeted you personally."

"Why _me_?" Xander says. "Except for some construction work and funds for the Academy down here, I haven't been involved in Scooby business much at all since I sold my Sunnydale contracts."

"Yeah, _about_ that…" Cordelia starts to say, then she shakes her head. "Never mind. We don't have time to talk or think about anything other than getting you _out_ of here.

"Jono, can you fly Genevieve home?"

"Well yes," Jono says. "But if this huge evil has targeted Xander, shouldn't Genevieve and I stick close to him?"

"_I'll_ protect him," Cordy says. "I'm not really _human_ anymore."

Xander sighs.

"_You_ too," he says. "_Everyone_ in the old gang has super powers and leaves old Xander behind. I should have known!"

"Well, that's just_ it_," Cordelia says. "You _do_ need something, a kind of weapon that will protect you, because I can't stick around much longer.

"And I happen to know where one is."

As she speaks, Cordelia pulls two airline tickets from her jeans pocket. She hands them to Xander.

"**_Reykjavik_**?!" Xander exclaims. "You got us tickets to go to **_Iceland_**?"

**Mongolia**

We see a close up of Karyn's and Jinny's terrified faces, then we see a close up of the Primitive facing them. Then, the Primitive lunges forward and the other two slayers scream…

…as the Primitive catches a hand with a dagger plunging towards Karyn's back. The Primitive then pulls a Mongol vampire towards her. With her left hand, she pulls off the vampire's arm even as her right hand pulls off the head. All three pieces of the vampire immediately implode into dust.

Coughing, Karyn says, "_Thanks_ Buffy, uhm Miss Primitive, uhm, what name do _you_ like to be called?"

In response, the Primitive roars with her prehistoric monster voice, but with an undercurrent of a female chorus underneath it. Karyn and Jinny hold their ears. Then, the Primitive ends her roar and turns around.

"I think I'll have a hard time pronouncing that," Karyn says.

"Do you think she sees _more_ Mongol warriors?" Jinny asks nervously.

"No, I think she sees _Dawn_," Karyn says, pointing in the distance.

And sure enough, our viewpoint rapidly pans in the direction Karyn is pointing and the Primitive is looking. Ground flies underneath us until we see, standing on a large rock, Dawn Summers, holding the scythe in front of her.

"Come _on_, sis," Dawn whispers. "You _know_ you want it."

Sure enough, the Primitive surges forward with incredible speed. After traveling approximately 20 feet in a second, she smashes into a boulder approximately 7 feet high and 8 feet long, and shoves it aside with such force that it breaks in two even as it swings away. The Primitive doesn't even slow down.

We then look down from several hundred feet in the air. We see the tiny speck that is Dawn on the left side of the screen, and the tiny specks that are Karyn and Jinny to the right side of the screen. In between, we see a trail of dust that marks the extremely rapid progress of the Primitive. From up high, it almost looks like we are looking at a Warner Brothers cartoon featuring the Road Runner.

Then we are back with Dawn. We see the approaching cloud trail of dust.

"Be ready," Dawn whispers.

As the cloud trail gets ever closer, we hear the rapid patter of feet and the rush of wind. Suddenly, Dawn turns and hurls the scythe away behind her. Then, as her eyes turn dark the scythe seems to fly on its own until, with a leaping grab, Vi rips it out of the air and starts to run away. Dawn then runs away at a right angle from the approaching Primitive.

From on high again, we see the Primitive's trail as she veers towards Dawn, but then slows.

Then, we are with the Primitive as she stops and looks around. Buffy's clothes are largely worn away, but she is still wearing the breast plate.

The Primitive searches the landscape back and forth with her eyes before her gaze locks on something in the distance. Our viewpoint shifts to Vi, who is jogging with surprising rapidity backwards holding the scythe.

The Primitive's eyes narrow, and then she's off again.

"_Uh_ oh!" Vi says quietly as she turns around and starts to run forward as fast as she can.

Our vantage point returns to Karyn and Jinny as they watch the now distant chase. Suddenly, Jinny and Karyn turn rapidly, drawing their swords.

"Easy girls," Lyssa says. "It's just us."

"The Primitive was just here," Karyn says. "She saved our butts from a sneaky Mongol warrior. Well, at least _my_ butt."

"_Language_, young lady," Lyssa says.

"I _am_ watching my language," Karyn says. "I almost said as…"

"That's _enough_!" Lyssa says. "_Where's_ the Primitive now?"

"She ran off after Dawn," Jinny says. "I think there was somebody else there too."

"That was Vi," says Rona as she steps forward. "I sure hope Dawn knows what she's doing."

"_Hey_!" Karyn says crossly. "Sunrise _always_ knows what she's doing!"

Then Karyn's voice drops as she whispers to herself.

"I just hope she does it _right_."

**Romania, by Castle Dracula**

The Castle is now engulfed in flames. One figure, female, badly burned with blackened flesh, her hair completely burned away, staggers away and falls on her face. Then, she implodes into dust. The dust swirls for a bit, a mist mixed in with it, then the mist recombines into a female shape, a blond haired woman.

Then, she is engulfed in flames. When the flames are gone, she is again badly burned.

**_I can do this all night and all day, traitor_, **the voice of the Master of the Circle says.

We then see Dracula, his two dark haired brides cowering next to him. The immense shadow of the Master of the Circle looms over them.

**_Did you think I would be fooled, Count? Did you think that I wouldn't remember your pathetic attachment to the Harris creature? _**

**_Idiot! I know everything! And you, YOU were hardly thinking! Harris' transition from life to death would have been horrible, but it would have been transitory. You and your brides, on the other hand, can be killed and yet can not die, which means that I can inflict the pain of death on you and yours over and over again! And that, Count, is the very epitome of Hell!_**

Dracula's expression is calm.

"I take it then that the Runners did _not_ get Xander?" he asks.

**_The new Council must have had one of their more exceptional slayers in reserve. The Runners were destroyed. When that happened, I knew someone must have told them, and I SAW your face when I mentioned targeting Mr. Harris. _**

**_Fortunately, the game is not over yet. ONE of your brides, the estranged one, is STILL loyal. She will undo your inequity! _**

With that, Dracula and the two dark haired brides are engulfed in flames. When the shower of flames end, three blackened skeletons struggle weakly to stand. Then they implode as one into dust.

**_When they put themselves back together again, TAKE them. I am FAR from done with them!_**

**Devonshire, the Headquarters for the New Watcher's Council**

It is now darkest night. There is a light dusting of snow on the grounds of the new Watcher's estate. Suddenly, we see what appears at first to be blowing snow. But then we see it is a white mist that is moving in the opposite direction of the breeze caressing the bare branches of the trees surrounding the estate. The mists move towards the front door then collect into a beautiful white doe. The white doe moves daintily to the front door of the estate, then changes shape into an extremely beautiful woman in white with hair the color of dark honey.

She doesn't touch the doorbell.

"_Ding_ dong," she says in a sing song voice. We hear the door bell ring inside the house.

The door opens. Standing on the other side is little Caitlyn McGrath.

"Can I…excuse me, _may_ I help you?" Caitlyn asks the strange woman.

"Well," the beautiful woman says. "Aren't you just _precious_? I would like to see the master of the house. My auto has run out of petrol and it is ever so cold out. If I could just come in I could…"

"Sorry," Caitlyn says. "I know better than to invite strangers into the house, especially when they are stupid _vampires_ who should know better than to show their fanged faces _here_!"

The last part of Caitlyn's sentence is said in a tone of utter contempt for the beautiful woman's stupidity.

"_I_ see," the beautiful woman says. "You were able to see through my ruse."

The woman then goes down to a knee in front of Caitlyn.

"But if we can only talk face to face you will see that I am not so ba…" the woman's voice is cut off as Caitlyn leaps forward and hits her in the face with an almost perfect mid air spin kick. The woman tumbles end over end in the air until she slams hard into the trunk of the nearest tree. The tree's trunk, about 6 inches thick, breaks in two. The woman falls down in a heap as the tree falls over her. .

"Ow," the woman says mildly. "Young lady, you will _pay_ for…"

Caitlyn shuts the door hard.

Inside, Caitlyn is looking at the front door. In her right hand there is now a short wooden stake. She is obviously thinking about going back outside.

"**_Caitlyn_**!" we hear Giles' voice exclaim in admonishment. "You know better than to open the door in the middle of the night!"

"The _doorbell_ rang," Caitlyn says, her voice sounding distant, almost entranced. "But it was just some stupid _vampire_ trying to get in. Maybe I'll go outside and finish her off. Yeah, _that's_ a good idea…"

Caitlyn then reaches for the door.

"_No_ Caitlyn!" Giles says as he gently grabs Caitlyn's wrist. "The doorbell did _not _ring! Someone got inside your head. Someone who I suspect is far more than a mere vampire."

"_Really_?" Caitlyn says, now sounding wide awake as she turns towards Giles with wide eyes. "What do you think she _is_ then?"

"Given her evident mental abilities, I am thinking it may be one of _Dracula's_ brides," Giles says. "Specifically, I suspect the fourth bride, Lucy Westenra."

Giles, still holding Caitlyn by the hand, walks into the interior of the estate, and into the great atrium.

"We are under attack, I believe by one of Dracula's brides, which could mean that Dracula _himself_ is not far behind," Giles says. "We need everyone to _stay away_ from the windows and doors. We do not want her fooling any of us into letting her inside."

Giles then looks around.

"It looks like everyone is here," he says to himself. "Everyone except…"

Giles then speaks up so that everyone in the room can hear him.

"Has anyone seen _Andrew_?" he asks.

**Mongolia**

We see Faith, now carrying the scythe, stumble over a rise and fall about five feet onto the ground, breathing hard. She looks over her shoulder, obviously scared.

"_C'mon_ Brat, we're almost there," Faith says to herself.

"_Hey_," Dawn says as she runs up to Faith from the side. "The _Brat's_ already here."

"_Good_," Faith says. "'cause I'm about all in and the missile base is just over that next rise."

"Let's go then," Dawn says, giving Faith's left shoulder an encouraging pat. "She's_ right_ behind us."

Even as Dawn finishes speaking, we hear the wind like rushing and the rapid patter of feet that indicate that the Primitive is fast approaching. Faith's and Dawn's eyes go wide and they start to run over the next rise. Our view switches as we see them run towards a chain link fence. On the gate of the fence are signs with faded red letters warning, we assume, against trespassing. The gate easily swings open as both Faith and Dawn hit it with their shoulders without slowing down.

Suddenly, however, the Primitive lands in front of them, having obviously leaped ahead.

"Dust in the wind," Dawn says. A small puff of dust blows into the Primitive's eyes. Her eyes squint closed and then Vi runs by from the left. Faith throws the scythe to the red head, and she and Dawn then run around the Primitive on the opposite side from Vi. The Primitive's eyes reopen. They are now red with yellow corneas as Buffy's were earlier. She roars, then turns and runs after the three slayers.

As the Primitive catches up to her, Vi passes the scythe to Dawn. As the Primitive veers towards Dawn, Dawn passes the scythe to Faith. We then see an immense, thick steel door, at least 30 feet high, opened up in the side of a cliff. Faith runs through it. Dawn follows. As she runs through the doors Dawn yells.

"Vi!" she cries. "Make _sure_ the door closes behind us."

Even as Dawn's voice fades, the Primitive runs through the door, and the metal door starts to electronically close. Vi puts her shoulder into the door to move it quicker, and it soon closes with a loud clang. We then hear the sound of immense steel bolts moving in place. The great door is locked. Vi is outside, but Dawn and Faith are obviously locked inside with the Primitive.

"I sure hope Dawn knows what she's doing!" Vi says to herself.

**Devonshire, the Headquarters for the New Watcher's Council**

"_Back_, Hellspawn!" Andrew yells at a window, holding a crucifix up against it. On the other side, floating in the air, is the face of Lucy Westenra. "You're not getting in here!"

"Of course I'm not," Lucy says. "Open the window."

Andrew opens the window, then thrusts the crucifix through it. It touches Lucy's head and the skin sizzles. Lucy's face screws up in agony, and she hisses.

"That is so _cool_!" Andrew exclaims. "That was just like the movies. I've never heard a vampire _hiss_ before!

"Hey, where'd you go?"

Lucy's face is gone. Instead, outside is a great white snowy owl.

"Message for Rupert Giles from Albus Dumbledore," it says. There is a scroll in one taloned foot.

"Oh sure, come _in_, gentle great winged messenger of Dumbledore," Andrew says.

The owl hops in and changes its shape back into Lucy. She grabs Andrew by the throat.

"_Thank_ you, young man," she says. "For this, I shall kill you gently and quickly."

Suddenly, there are two green flashes of light, and a hand reaches out and grabs Lucy by the hair and pulls her back away from Andrew.

"No tonight, _bitch_!" Kennedy says. She then throws Lucy into the nearest wall. Lucy's head crashes the plaster. Kennedy rushes forward and stabs Lucy in the heart with her wooden stake. Lucy looks shocked as her face turns into the grey of dust, just before she implodes.

"My thanks, Kennedy, for rescuing me from my own foolishness!" Andrew says.

"Just shut the hell _up_, Andrew!" Kennedy yells. "We don't have time for your crap _now_!"

Andrew looks hurt.

"It's _OK_, Andrew," we hear Willow's voice say from behind him. "It's _not_ you. The only way I was able to get Kennedy back was to feed her anger until it overwhelmed her grief."

Andrew turns around and both he and we see Willow. Her hair is jet black, and so are her eyes.

"Of course, I already have some _experience _with that!"

"Oh _God_!" Andrew says. "Are you gonna kill me now?"

"**_What_**?" Willow exclaims, sounding genuinely confused. Then comprehension dawns on her face.

"Oh_ no_, Andrew," Willow says. "Tonight, Dark Willow is not for _you_.

"But _do_ be a dear and get Giles and bring him here, won't you?"

Andrew runs from the room and we hear his feet pound down the stairs.

Then, we see the mists reshape behind Kennedy. Lucy Westenra, clearly angry, reforms behind Kennedy and reaches for the back of her neck…

…then stops, obviously frozen in place. Lucy's eyes widen in confused, helpless terror.

"_Sorry_," Dark Willow says in a sing song voice. "_Can't_ move now. _Don't_ have time for a big slayer/vampire fight. _Gotta_ get this _show_ on the _road_!"

So saying, Dark Willow comes up and rips the lace sleeve off of Lucy's right hand and upper arm. About halfway up, we see the branded tattoo of the Circle of the Black Thorn.

"Yep," Dark Willow says. "Kennedy, I think we've hit the _jackpot_!"

"_**Who** burned down the Academy_??" Kennedy asks, her voice tight with rage. "_**Who** killed my **sisters? Who killed Ana**_??"

Kennedy turns towards Dark Willow. Dark Willow nods, and Kennedy stabs Lucy in the heart again. This time, Lucy's face, body, hair and clothes all turn coarse grey, but she does not implode. Then, as Kennedy removes the stake she suddenly turns back to normal.

"Do it _again_," Dark Willow says.

"With _pleasure_," Kennedy snarls. She stabs Lucy in the heart, and again she turns grey, only to once again turn back. Lucy then collapses to her knees with a desperate sob.

"Good Lord," Giles whispers. "**_Willow_**?"

"It's OK, Giles," Dark Willow says. "I haven't gone over to the dark side again. I'm still in control. But considering what happened, what was _done_ to us, I thought I'd unleash some of the badness on someone who _deserved_ it."

Dark Willow then approaches and takes a sobbing Lucy by the hair and pulls her upright.

"My very good friend here lost the woman she loves just as they were about to begin a beautiful relationship," Dark Willow says. "And we've _both_ lost people that we loved and felt responsible for. We're really, _really_ pissed."

Dark Willow jerks her head towards Kennedy. Kennedy jams a wooden stake into Lucy's heart yet again. She turns grey, but as Kennedy removes the stake she once again turns back to normal.

"Kennedy and I can keep this up for a **_long_** time," Dark Willow says. "And when _she_ gets tired? Ripper and I can get _real_ creative."

Lucy turns to look at Giles. He has taken off his glasses and begun to polish them. His gaze is flat and dangerous.

"Now, Kennedy asked you a question, and I suggest you answer it," Dark Willow says. "Who or **_what _**burned down the Rio Academy?"

Lucy looks from Dark Willow to Kennedy to Giles and then back to Dark Willow. She bites her lip, and, under the fangs, her lip begins to bleed.

**Mongolia, inside the abandoned Soviet missile base**

Dawn and Faith are backing away from the Primitive. Faith has the scythe.

"So, now that we got her in here, do we let her have it?" Faith asks.

"No," Dawn says. "I suspect that she could use it to cut her way out of here."

"OK," Faith says. "Let me _rephrase_ this. Any idea how we're gonna _keep_ her from having it?"

"Hand it to me," Dawn says.

"Don't think that's a good idea," Faith says.

"And _you_ hanging onto it _is_?" Dawn asks.

"_Ohhh_ kay," Faith says. "Decent point. But if Primitive Buffy kills you now, then regular Buffy is brought back, she's gonna want to kill me for letting her kill you, and I'm gonna want to let her kill me for letting you get killed."

"What?" Dawn says. "Can you run that by me again?"

"I kinda figured with all the languages you speak now, you could follow that," Faith says.

"Never mind," Dawn says. The Primitive is approaching Faith, murder in her eyes. "Just give me the damn scythe, already."

Faith tosses it to Dawn. The Primitive runs forward to snatch it out of the air, but suddenly it appears that she runs into a barrier. The scythe falls into Dawn's hands.

The Primitive starts to pound on the mystic barrier. We see flashes of green light where her fists strike. The sound of the pounding echoes off of the walls. Dawn cries out and falls to her knees, her nose is now bleeding.

"_Dawn_?" Faith says as she drops to her knees beside the younger slayer/witch.

"Get _away_ from me!" Dawn says. "I'm the only one who can stand up to her even for a _little_ while."

"Are you _kiddin'_?" Faith says. "You aren't even standin' _now_!"

Dawn, her eyes now glowing green, turns towards Faith.

"Go _now_!" she says. "Get _Riley_! _We can't blow this now_!"

Faith gets up and runs around the corner. We still hear the pounding echo off of the walls.

"Hey _Major_!" Faith yells. "We need your help! _Now_!"

Riley Finn steps around the corner. His shirt is off, although he is still wearing his black pants and boots. His head is now shaved, and his arms and upper body are lined with tattoos of mystic symbols. Combined with the scar we first saw him with in _As You Were_, Riley now looks more like a movie serial killer than the Apple Pie Captain America type. In each hand, he holds a machine pistol.

"Step aside, Faith," he says.

Our viewpoint now switches back to the Primitive and Dawn. The mystic barrier has fallen. The Primitive now has the scythe in her right hand. She is holding Dawn up by the throat with her left. The Primitive raises the scythe as if she is about to strike Dawn down.

"B…_Buffy_?" Dawn says.

Riley, now standing behind the Primitive, fires the two machine pistols. Tranquilizer darts bounce off Buffy's upper body armor.

"Oh jeez!" Faith exclaims. "I gotta get that _off _of her!"

So saying, Faith runs forward and grabs the back of Buffy's armor. After a couple of hard tugs, it comes off, and both the back and the breast plates fall off. The Primitive drops Dawn and strikes Faith with her right elbow. The sound of impact from the strike is loud, and Faith flies against the nearest wall and slumps to the floor, unconscious.

The Primitive then brings the scythe up to strike Dawn. Riley again fires his machine pistols. The Primitive's back is literally peppered with tranquilizer darts, but they seem to barely penetrate the skin, and the Primitive doesn't even turn around.

Dawn opens her eyes. Her eyes glow green, and so do the tears running down her face.

"Buffy please!" Dawn pleads.

The Primitive pauses. We now see confusion on her face.

Then our view switches to behind the Primitive, as the darts are all suddenly pushed into her back by a mysterious invisible force. The Primitive starts to weave on her feet, then she drops the scythe with a ringing clang. Then the Primitive falls on top of Dawn.

"Riley, did _you_ do that?" Dawn asks.

"No, I was trying, but I wasn't strong enough," he says. "Someone helped, someone stronger than I am. I thought it must have been _you_."

"Nope, it was just little ole me!" we hear a familiar voice say. We then see Willow, her hair now its customary red, walk around the corner. Her face looks drawn, and she looks as if she can barely stand.

Dawn shoves aside the Primitive's unconscious body.

"Willow, are you _OK_?" Dawn asks in alarm.

"Ohhh yeah," Willow says. "I had to let the 'bad me' out for a little run, and then I had to put her back in, but she didn't exactly _want_ to go back in, _if_ you know what I mean. On top of that, I had to do some psychic meatball surgery on Kennedy and teleport four people, two of them long distance _over_ long distance."

Riley catches Willow before she can fall. His expression is also concerned.

"It's _OK_ Willow, I think Dawn and I can handle the next part," he says.

"I don't think so," Dawn says. "Before she came here, the Primitive ate an entire ox."

"_What_?" Riley says. "But that's not possible. Not unless…"

"She converted all that meat into energy, without any waste," Dawn says. "I don't know how much tranquilizer you pumped into her, Riley, but it probably won't last long."

"Then we have to find Buffy in there," Willow says. "Bring her back."

"Excuse me," Riley says. "Former Ph.D. student in psychology here. According to what Dawn told me, between the Primitive and Buffy, there are at least _300 other personalities_ in there from the other incarnations of the Slayer. That makes Buffy's personality like a needle in a haystack."

"So what do you suggest?" Dawn says. "This is likely to be our only chance to get Buffy back."

"Agreed," Riley says. "But we're going to have to do it right. We're going to have to go back to the beginning, and reintegrate every personality in order. I think that's the only way we'll get Buffy back in a way that sticks."

"Then we better get cracking," Willow says. "One last thing though. Kennedy, Giles and I found out what destroyed the Rio Academy."

"What was it?" Dawn says.

**The Headquarters of the Circle of the Black Thorn**

Dracula is suspended upside down in chains over a flaming pit. Most of the flames are blue. Then, we see something absolutely **_huge_** emerge out of the pit. First a head emerges. A giant _reptilian_ head. Then the wings emerge, and we realize what we are seeing.

**_Shall we begin your torture in earnest, Count? _**the Master of the Circle of the Black Thorn asks.

**Mongolia, inside the abandoned Soviet missile complex**

"It was a fire breathing _dragon_," Willow says.

To be Continued, but only after I've returned to the world of King Kong for a little bit!


	6. Next, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Next, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer

**Reykjavik****, Iceland**

Xander is looking at Cordelia. They are standing in front of a curio shop on a dark city street covered in snow. The lights dimly light their surroundings.

"So you're telling me this big deal weapon is sitting in a tourist shop?" Xander asks.

"Just go _in_, Xander," Cordelia says, her voice sounding concerned, even desperate. "I _really_ don't have much more time!"

**Inside the Primitive's psyche**

We see the Primitive as a small child. She is standing in front of her mother. Her mother seems to be weaving something in the very air. A glowing green something that is shaped like an infant of the Primitive's human species.

Standing a short distance away are Willow, Riley, Dawn and Tara. Willow is staring at Tara as if she can't believe she's there. Dawn, however, is staring at the scene in front of them, obviously one of the Primitive's earliest memories.

"That floating glowing green baby thing," Dawn says. "I think that may be _**me**_!"

**Mongolia, inside the abandoned Soviet missile base**

"Hey B!" Faith says. We now see Buffy lying on the floor in front of her. "Welcome back."

Suddenly, Buffy screams, and her hair catches on fire, then she is consumed in flame.

"_**B**_?" Faith shouts in alarm. "Oh _**God**_! _**Buffy**_!!"


End file.
